In 2003, game engineers and designers were brought together to develop the concept further. By 2005 the controller interface had taken form, but a public showing at that year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) was canceled. Miyamoto stated that the company "had some troubleshooting to do. So we decided not to reveal the controller and instead we displayed just the console."<ref name="Miyamoto Speaks" /> Nintendo president Satoru Iwata later unveiled and demonstrated the Wii Remote at the September Tokyo Game Show.<ref name="TGSspeech" />

The Nintendo DS is said to have influenced the Wii's design. Designer Ken'ichiro Ashida noted, "We had the DS on our minds as we worked on the Wii. We thought about copying the DS's touch-panel interface and even came up with a prototype." The idea was eventually rejected because of the notion that the two gaming systems would be identical. Miyamoto also stated, "[...] if the DS had flopped, we might have taken the Wii back to the drawing board."<ref name="Miyamoto Speaks" /> In June 2011 Nintendo unveiled the prototype of its successor to the Wii, to be known as Wii U.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Some video game developers and members of the press stated that they preferred "Revolution" over "Wii".<ref name="gamasutra_dev_interviews">Template:Cite news</ref> Forbes expressed a fear "that the name would convey a continued sense of 'kidiness' to the console."<ref name="forbes_criticism">Template:Cite news</ref> The BBC reported the day after the name was announced that "a long list of puerile jokes, based on the name," had appeared on the Internet.<ref name="BBC article">Template:Cite news</ref>

Nintendo of America's Vice President of Corporate Affairs Perrin Kaplan defended the choice of "Wii" over "Revolution" and responded to critics of the name, stating "Live with it, sleep with it, eat with it, move along with it and hopefully they'll arrive at the same place."<ref name="IGN Kaplan Interview">Template:Cite news</ref> Nintendo of America's president Reggie Fils-Aime acknowledged the initial reaction and further explained the change:

The Wii Remote can lose track of the Wii system it has been set to, requiring that it be reset and resynchronized. Nintendo's support website provides instructions for this process and troubleshooting related issues.<ref>"Nintendo support website". Nintendo. http://support.nintendo.com/.</ref>

On August 19, 2008 Hillcrest Laboratories Inc. filed a complaint against Nintendo with the U.S International Trade Commission, alleging that the Wii Remote infringed on three of its patents. A fourth Hillcrest patent (for graphical interfaces displayed on television screens) was also allegedly violated. Hillcrest sought a ban on Wii consoles imported to the U.S.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> On August 24, 2009 Nintendo and Hillcrest reached a settlement, although the terms were not publicly disclosed.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Features

The console has a number of internal features made available from its hardware and firmware components. The hardware allows for extendability (via expansion ports), while the firmware (and some software) can receive periodic updates via the WiiConnect24 service.

Parental controls

The console features parental controls, which can be used to prohibit younger users from playing games with content unsuitable for their age level. When one attempts to play a Wii or Virtual Console game, it reads the content rating encoded in the game data; if this rating is greater than the system's set age level, the game will not load without a password. Parental controls may also restrict Internet access, which blocks the Internet Channel and system-update features. Since the console is restricted to Nintendo GameCube functionality when playing Nintendo GameCube Game Discs, GameCube software is unaffected by Wii parental-control settings.<ref name=CNETParent>Greenwald, Will (February 29, 2008). "Super-Easy Game Play - Nintendo Wii Reviewi". PC Magazine. http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-9880634-1.html. Retrieved on September 13, 2012.</ref>

European units primarily use the PEGI rating system,<ref name="par_pegi">Template:Cite news</ref> while North American units use the ESRB rating system.<ref name="par_esrb">Template:Cite press release</ref> The Wii supports the rating systems of many countries, including CERO in Japan, the USK in Germany, the PEGI and BBFC in the United Kingdom, the ACB in Australia and the OFLC in New Zealand. Homebrew developers have reverse-engineered the function which Nintendo uses to recover lost parental-control passwords, creating a simple script to obtain parental-control reset codes.<ref>marcan (May 15, 2008). "Parental Controls". HackmMii.com. http://hackmii.com/2008/05/parental-controls/. Retrieved on July 3, 2009.</ref>

Game designer and The Sims creator Will Wright shared his thoughts on the Wii in the context of the current console generation: "The only next gen system I've seen is the Wii – the PS3 and the Xbox 360 feel like better versions of the last, but pretty much the same game with incremental improvement. But the Wii feels like a major jump – not that the graphics are more powerful, but that it hits a completely different demographic."<ref name="wii_next_gen">Template:Cite news</ref>

The Globe and Mail, in suggesting why Nintendo posted a record loss of $926 million for the initial six months of its 2011–2012 fiscal year, blamed the Wii's design for being "short-sighted". The Wii initially enjoyed phenomenal success because it was inexpensive (due to its being less sophisticated than its competitors) and introduced a "gaming gimmick". However, this approach meant that the Wii's hardware soon became outdated and could not keep up long-term (in contrast to more-advanced rivals such as Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, which are expected to continue doing well in 2012–2013) "as both user desires and surrounding technologies evolved" later in the generation. Furthermore, price cuts and the introduction of motion-sensor controllers for the Xbox 360 and PS3 nullified advantages once held by the Wii. The Globe suggested that there were other reasons for Nintendo's poor financial performance, including a strong yen and a tepid reception to the Nintendo 3DS handheld as mobile gaming becomes popular on smartphones and tablets (such as the iPad).<ref name="theglobeandmail" />

Other models

Outside Japan, a few different models of the Wii were produced. Since these were intended for foreign markets, they were never released in that region, and the original Japanese model was produced until it's discontiutation in that region in 2013.

Family Edition

The Wii Family Edition variant is identical to the original model, but is designed to sit horizontally (the vertical feet are still present; however, the front labels are rotated and a stand is no longer included) and removes the GameCube controller and memory card ports. For this reason, the Family Edition variant is incompatible with GameCube games and accessories. The console was announced on August 17, 2011 and released in Europe and North America in October 2011.<ref name="Wii2.0" />